What is the funniest, laugh-out-loud book you’ve read so far?
What is the funniest, laugh-out-loud book you’ve read so far?
Related Questions
67 answers
14 answers
32 answers
124 answers
58 answers
102 answers
118 answers
45 answers
85 answers
128 answers
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove. Can’t remember who wrote it. It was a gag gift from a college buddy…I made the mistake of saying “I’ll read anything…”
Christopher Moore is the author
Christopher Moore
I have that one but haven’t read it yet!
His book, Lamb, is hilarious!
Anything he writes is hilarious!
A Dirty Job will make you laugh, too! “Kitty!!”
I just finished it last night. I stumbled across his books at the library and it’s the 3rd one I’ve read. He’s hilarious!
Amy , I think Lamb should have made the list.
Kathleen Agreed! I recommend it all the time.
Bossypants by Tina Fey.
Also, Yes Please by Amy Poehler
I really enjoyed Bossypants, but I didn’t think it was that funny. Definitely a book I recommend. Guess humor is in the eye of the laugher. 🙂
Walk In the Woods by Bill Bryson.
Anything by Bill Bryson is dangerous in public places 🤣
Agree. I almost had to stop reading Notes from a Small Island while on an international flight because everyone was asleep and I was laughing so hard, trying to be quiet.
Stacy Same happened to me with his “In a Sunburned Country”
Also the Life and Times of the Thunderbolt kid
Anything by Kinky Friedman!
Anything by Nora Ephron!
the cracker factory
Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy O’Toole, runner up goes to Straight Man by Richard Russo
Any of the Sweet Potato Queens books by Jill Conner Browne!
Lamb – The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore.
Yes!
I hate to admit this, but the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich
I love Grandma!
.. yes .. the Stephanie Plum books are wonderful .. I was listening to one in my car, on the way home from work, laughing out loud, stopped at a stop-light, hoping someone wasn’t looking, because I couldn’t stop laughing!!
Bucking the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis
“The Good Lord Bird “ by James McBride.
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb.
Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. It also made me sob. She’s amazing.
I loved her first one, “Let’s Pretend this Never Happened.” Hilarious!
Me too! Both books are great!
I agree!
I listened to the audio book. She is so funny!
Dad is Fat – Jim Gaffgan
Food- A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan
Shit my Dad says
My husband would say A Confederacy of Dunces.
I would say something by Bill Bryson or maybe Cannery Row.
There’s a Porcupine in my Outhouse by Michael Tougias
The Hot Flash Club by Nancy Thayer
Catch-22. Also heartbreaking.
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.
Me Talk Pretty One Day
F
Good Omens
Richard Kadrey Aloha from hell
Me Talk Pretty by David Sedaris.
This may sound kinda nerdy but I laughed a lot at Pickwick Papers by Dickens.
“Are You there Vodka, it’s me Chelsea” by Chelsea Handler.
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson
👆🏻Yes!! I laughed out loud through the whole book. ❤️
PG Wodehouse, Patrick McManus, Bill Bryson- and depending on your taste Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Ford Prefect: “You’d better be prepared for the jump into hyperspace. It’s rather unpleasantly like being drunk.”
Arthur Dent: “What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?”
Ford Prefect: “Ask a glass of water.”
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Agree
The opening chapter from This is where I leave you by Jonathon Tropper. Also Something Missing by Matthew Dicks. And the chapter on night training sled dogs in Winterdance by Gary Paulsen.
Catch 22. Read the book, the movie is not nearly as good
Any of Louise Rennison’s books. The Georgia Nicholson series had me snort-laughing all the way through high school!
Almost anything by David sedaris, holidays on ice, him as an elf at Macy’s Santaland had me crying
The story “Rooster at the Hitching Post” gets me every time I read it.
I borrowed Sedaris’ boxed set audiobooks a couple of days ago. I’m driving from NorCal to SoCal and back next week and I’m hoping I don’t have to pull over from laughing so hard.
SPACE OPERA by catherynne valente
Bossypants
The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank and anything else by Erma Bombeck.
Gosh! I miss her! She was so funny!
She was such a great writer. I miss her too!
I’m a stranger here myself. Bill Bryson
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
A Walk in the Woods
Flung!
Absolutely!!!
The Lucia books (the whole series but especially Mapp and Lucia) by EF Benson. And A Confederacy of Dunces.
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson. I cry laughing every time I read it.
Blue Heaven by Joe Keenan. Unfortunately, it’s been out of print for a while.
Also, Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin.
Joe Keenan wrote a couple of books that were hilarious!
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson! Page 19 is worth the price of the book alone! Nearly fell out of bed I was laughing so hard!
David Sedaris BARREL FEVER
I loved A Walk in the Woods
Junior book Hank the Cowdog by John Erickson
Catchb22 was very funny.
A Confederacy of Dunces!
Anything by David Sedarus
Rush Limbaugh is a big fat idiot
Jennifer ‘s books
Christopher Moore’s Lamb. Hilarious!
Such a hilarious book! I loved it too.
That was the first book that popped into my mind!
Bill Bryson’s Tales of a Thunderbolt Kid
Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris. I have to read it out loud to anyone who will listen and it cracks me up every time! Listening to Mr. Sedaris read it is even funnier!
Yes…love his audio books.
Listening to David Sedaris read Santaland Diaries on NPR every Christmas is a family tradition! Never fails to bring us all to tears laughing! 😁
Tama that’s the best. A holiday tradition.
I listen every year when it’s aired on NPR
Nora Ephron I feel bad about my neck
The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw
By: Patrick McManus 🤣
We love reading his books around the camping fire instead of telling scary stories.
Dead Souls by Gogol
A Man Called Ove was really good.
What made you laugh.?
The dialog was just hilarious. Especially Ove’s interactions with his new neighbors.
Parts are hilarious, parts are sweet, parts are sad. Such a great book.
The American version is being filmed with Tom Hanks as Ove… I’m not sure if he’s a good fit.. we’ll see
Joy I’m not sure either. And I loved the original movie nearly as much as the book.
The Ditches of Edison County
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy still makes me laugh out loud.
The World According to Garp
A man called Ove
I laughed out loud while reading the Newbery winner, Dead End in Norvelt.
Early Stephanie plum series by Janet Evonovich
I agree Christine! Hysterical! 😁
Stephanie Plum Series by Janet Evanovich. I was reading it in bed one night and had to leave the room because I couldn’t stop laughing and I was waking up my husband.
Lula and Grandma Mazur are always so funny!!
Bossy pants by Tina Fey
The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish. I suggest listening to the audio version. It’s HILARIOUS!!!
Shit my Dad Says
Listened to this on a long road trip. U laughed until I cried. Best ever!
THAT looks AMAZING!!!
I just borrowed the audiobook for a road trip. Too many readers recommended it for me to pass on it.
The Family Fang
Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office by Jen Lancaster.
The Winshaw Legacy or What A Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe. Also, I like anything by Terry Pratchett. I’m surprised none of his books were on the TGAR list!
Although it’s not on the list, “Less” is hilarious (this year’s Pulitzer for fiction)
This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
Tina Fey’s Bossypants, I laughed so hard I had tears streaming down my face.
Good Omens … and any time Jenks opened his mouth in The Hollows series😁
Jenks is the only thing I miss since giving up on that series.
Following. (I could use a good laugh during my commute.)
Tales of the City by Armstead Maupin
World According to Garp
A Prayer for a Owen Meany.
Don Quixote made me laugh way more than I would have thought a book from that long ago would have. Dickens is also hilarious at times.
David Sedaris is funny, the best one of his that I’ve seen is When You Are Engulfed In Flames. I should also mention Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide series.
Love David Sedaris. His stories are so funny
There were several humorous passages in “Don Quixote” and every one of Douglas Adams’ books that I read, “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe”, “Life the Universe and Everything”, “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish”, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” and “The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul”, are hilarious!
Sellavision by Augusten Burroughs
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is very funny. Also Confessions of a Shopaholic.
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson.
Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly, Ex-Sorority Girl’s Guide to Why It Often Sucks in the City, or Who Are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me? by Jen Lancaster
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. Hilarious!
I’ve been wanting to read this.
In God We Trust, All The Rest Pay Cash by Jean Sheperd
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series
Where’d You Go Bernadette. Laughed so hard I cried.
Dave Barry’s Homes and Other Black Holes. I was reading mostly in bed at night when I read that. My husband made me leave the bedroom. 🙂
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson.
Agree! Laugh out loud funny.
Lamb by Christopher Moore
The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window by Jonas Jonasson
Bossy Pants!
Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods”
Richard Ford’s books about Frank Bascombe are pretty humorous. Similar to Richard Russo in some ways, also very funny
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. I would laugh so hard that I wouldn’t be able to breathe. And then the tears in my eyes and I’d cry/ laugh.
Same here!
thought i might get taken off the subway as appearing to be a danger to myself or others. i laughed myself info tears.
The Rosie Project
Phantom Tollboth. I was reading out loud and kept cracking up laughing.
Naked. David sedaris
I liked Bossy Pants, particularly lists ing to it on audio, but L.A.M.B. by Christopher Moore. I also really loved A Dirty Job, as well as his vampire series, and any others of his I’ve read.
I adore Christopher Moore.
He is Amazing!
The Thurber Carnival, especially the story about the night the ghost got in. Hilarious!
The Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne
Any of the Stephanie Plum series – very funny and always entertaining!
Anything by Caral Hissan!
PS I Love You
OMG this book was hilarious!!
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. Absolutely hilarious!
Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg.
Brain Droppings by George Carlin.
Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff by Christopher Moore
One of my favorites! Named our dog Biff…
Yes! Love Biff.
Crazy in Alabama
Me Talk Pretty. DAVID SEDARIS
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Any Janet Evanovich OF the Plums series.
A Girl Named Zippy, by Haven Kimmel. And yes, I even laughed so hard I snorted. More than once.
OMG! I forgot aboutthat book. I loved it!
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing – read it to my class every year – could not read with a straight face!
Her follow up, “She got up off the couch” is great too.
Eleanor Junie B Jones does that for me!
YES! I remember reading Junie B Jones Alohaha to my kids when they were young, and there was a part where I couldn’t get though because I was laughing so hard. I had to hand it over and tell them to read that part themselves. LOL
Don Quixote
Following
Janet Evanovich series. I love all her books.
Same here!!
a walk in the woods and the Chet and Bernie series
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.
Roughing It
Do you mean Roughing It by Mark Twain?
Maude yes. sorry. Should have said that
Shit My Dad Says. It was hysterical 😂
Read some funny parts in The Help.
Gary Paulsen’s Winterdance
The Road to Welllville by T.C. Boyle
Austenland by Shannon Hale
Rainey.
Furiously Happy and Let’s Pretend This Never Happened – both by Jennie Lawson, aka The Blogess
let’s Pretend This Never Happened was 😂
I was laughing so hard in the airport reading it!
Sweet Potato Queens by Jill Conner Browne. Totally hilarious!
Is this a novel?
Marilyn Yes
Gailthx
Augustus McCrae is hilarious in Lonesome Dove. He made me laugh out loud unexpectantly all throughout the book. But then I cried great sobs like I’ve never cried before so beware.
I just rewatched the mini-series….he is one of my all time favorite characters.
Anything Wodehouse: Right Ho, Jeeves
Any of the Stephanie Plum series books by Janet Evanovich. Her characters are ALL so funny. Lula and Grandma Mazur are my favorite.
Yes! The books have gotten predictable, but I just love spending time with the characters. =)
The Rosie Project
I was trying to remember this books name thanks! So funny
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
LOVED this book.
I misremembered the title, but not the laughs!
Maybe I should read it again. Time for some comic relief. Or, would the Confederacy of Dunces be more appropriate?
Anything by Jen Lancaster
Me Talk Pretty someday
Yes!
Some chapters of “Shock Value” by John Waters and the first two Bridget Jones books. Had to be my mind at certain points of my life…
Anything by Erma Bombeck.
Angela’s Ashes believe it or not!
I believe it.
David Sedaris – When You Are Engulfed in Flames
Barrel Fever by David Sedaris.
A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson
Wanda Hickeys Night of Golden Memory’s. Gene Shepherd
All Janet Evanovich .my children would look at me like I was crazy
Laughing hysterically while I was reading
The Stephanie Plum series
Great late night reading to go to bed with a smile on your face. Enjoyed all her books.
A Walk in the Woods!
Sophie Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic, Janet Evanovich’s One for the Money, Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods, and Fannie Flagg’s Can’t Wait To Get To Heaven.
Night of the Avenging Blowfish: A Novel of Covert Operations, Love, and Luncheon Meat by John Welter
I Remember Nothing, by Nora Ephron. Quite of few of hers make me laugh.
I forgot Bonk (or pretty much anything else) by Mary Roach. Amazing stuff.
Just about anything by her is funny, even if the topic isn’t.
Tina Fey Bossypants.
Can you keep a secret by Sophie Kinsella, hilarious!!
Tina Fey’s book, Bossypants
Kiss My Tiara
Dan Jenkins, You Gotta Play Hurt
Traveling Mercies- Anne Lamott
The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore.
Funniest book ever, “The Rosie Project” by Graeme Simsion!
That one is good!
John Grisham’s Skipping Christmas.
Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh
Yes!!!
Walking in circles before lying down…I would read this on the bus to school. I’m sure people thought I was a lunatic because I was giggling and laughing out loud. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/117370.Walking_in_Circles_Before_Lying_Down
Bossy Pants
Yeeeees!! I commented to say the same! Tina Fey is HILARIOUS!
Abbey the best was listening to her read it. We were driving across the country and my husband kept looking at me like I was crazy because I had had phones on.
Bobbie I’d love to listen to her read it! The first time I read it, I was reading in bed and kept laughing so hard that I kept waking my husband up! My favorite anecdote was her disaster honeymoon story!
100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
Why Not Me by Al Franken, Pest Control and The Organ Grinders by Bill Fitzhugh, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, anything by Kinky Friedman, and HappinessTM by Will Ferguson are all hilarious!
Oh – also Evelyn Waugh! Scoop, Put Out More Flags, etc.
The Stephanie Plum books…
I laughed a lot when I read “The Rosie Project.” I with that the sequel had the same charm, but it didn’t.
“The Sot-Weed Factor” by John Barth – It’s a hilarious, bawdy, rip-roaring adventure story in the mock style of Tobias Smollett, Henry Fielding, and those other great 18th century picaresque novelists. Read it and you’ll never look at an eggplant the same way again.
Jenny Lawson – Furiously Happy
Me Talk Pretty One Day
David Sedaris
I love, love, love David Sedaris! This should be on season 2 of The Great American Read!
Megan, I agree!
The World According to Garp.
Kevin Surprised that someone else knows of this book. It has been many years since I read it, but I do not remember that is was funny.
Terry Fay Malcheski Lamberth I suppose it depends on what you find funny and some of it is dependent on knowing the historical and cultural context. But I remember when I was coming home to San Diego after seeing an opera in Los Angeles. I’d stopped at my usual way station, a Denny’s in Commerce, CA, and started reading that book while waiting for and then eating my much-belated dinner. By the time I got to the scene of the two dons messing with poor Ebenezer by saying that his singing “Flow My Tears” was blasphemous, I was snorting with laughter, and when Henry More and Isaac Newton patched up their quarrel about Platonic idealism with a homosexual tryst, I was doubled up with tears streaming down my face. I’m laughing out loud right now just recalling my emotions. 😂 Even the language of the book got me going from the first. I love Barth’s paragraph-long first sentence. It’s my favorite opening line because it sets up the rest of the book beautifully. Within that one sentence, I was introduced to Ebenezer Cooke, knew him for a poetaster, and I knew that this was going to be a very arch, satirical take on the 18th century novel.
Anything Christopher Moore. I know it is off topic a bit, but once I was reading on the toilet (the only way to read once you have kids) and I was SOBBING. I could barely breathe. My husband practically kicked the door in to get to me (he picked the lock). All I could do was hold up the paperback and whimper, “Her mom died.” He just shook his head, locked the door, pulled it close and told the kids to heat up some spaghettios because Mom wasn’t cooking dinner. God, I wish I could remember what book it was.
I either love his books or hate them. There is no in between for me. That being said, I just finished Noir and loved it!
Sara just picked it up from hold at the library Friday! Slow start, but I am all in.
Forrest Gump by Winston Groom. surprise! it’s very different from the movie! i laughed out loud thru the whole book 😀
I have not read it, but someone who did told me not to read it because it made her not like Forrest anymore?
well, that may have been her experience, but not mine. he’s not sweet little innocent Tom Hanks in the book- he swears, he lives with Jenny & they have sex (the book isn’t descriptive tho), he’s a normal human being. don’t go into the book thinking you’re gonna get the movie- there are some things that match up, but the book is so much better & funny, but still has touching moments too. anyone i’ve recommended it to loved it 🙂
April , I have been curious for years. Will add it to my list. If for no other reason, something to argue with her about. When you have been best friends for 30 years. Lol
Anything David Sedaris writes!
Laugh and cry with the next sentence. Angela’s Ashes by far!
I love A Long Way from Chicago. It’s a children’s chapter book. The grandma is hilarious.
Have you read the one by Frederick Backman called My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry ?
In death series from J.D. Robb
Not high drama but just pure fun …. the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.
Ha! I laugh every time I think of Cluck in a Bucket!
Auntie Mame.
this one is on my TBR list. I LOVE the movie with Rosalind. Russel.
Geni, I have not read Patrick Dennis’s books for many years, but I remember all of them as hilarious.
Luann I know my library has Auntie Mame. Not sure if they have his other books. Will have to check and see.
The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett, David Sedaris.
The Rosie Project. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid – Bill Bryson. This was my life growing up. The Ove book, made me laugh and cry. Patrick Dennis’ books.
Also anything by Christopher Buckley. Thank You For Smoking is a real hoot.
Catch-22
Born A Crime by Trevor Noah
The Sweet Potato Queens’ Book of Love. Hysterical.
Catch-22 for sure. I read it on my subway commute, so there was a lot of laughing in public and probably looking deranged.
Millie’s Fling by Jill Mansell – a beach book with a brain!
Anything by Louis Grizzard. Back in the carpool days, my children would not let drive and listen to Louis Grizzard.
I love James Thurber’s stories, but in particular “The Night the Bed Fell” and “The Day the Dam Broke.”
For those interested, both these stories are in “My Life and Hard Times”, which can be downloaded for free in epub format from Project Gutenberg Canada (those with Kindles can get it converted to mobi format at Online Convert).
Kevin, most everything Thurber can be found in a collection called “The Thurber Carnival.” I’ve bought many used copies over the years; not sure if it is in print. His cartoons are priceless.
Luann Yes, I also have “The Thurber Carnival”, but, sadly, it’s not available for free download like the PG Canada e-book is.
Kevin, good to know!
The Stephanie Plum series cracks me up every time
This is my answer toi
Yes!!
Any book by Patrick McManus, or They Shoot Canoes Dont They.
almost anything by Nick Hornsby ~
A Confederacy of Dunces!
Agree, just finished audio version. Very funny.
Anything by David Sedaris
Open House by Elizabeth Berg and anything by FannieFlagg
Why Me, a Dortmunder novel by Donald Westlake. Actually any Dortmunder story. He is a thief with bad luck. His criminal projects turn disastrous every time.
The World According to Garp, there is a discussion at the shore about looking out for “the under toad”. I think about that discussion 30 years later and still giggle!
Yes, forgot how much John Irving can make us laugh and cry at the same time…
When he bit that dog!!
And how can we forget “The Princess Bride?”
Running with Scissors.
The movie was hilarious too
A Walk In the Woods, by Bill Bryson
I loved his dry humor!
Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster!